Test automation for robotic process automation

ABSTRACT

Test cases for existing workflows (or workflows under test) may be created and executed. A test case may be created for a workflow in production or one or more parts of the workflow, and the created test case for the workflow, or the one or more parts of the workflow, may be executed to identify environmental and/or automation issues for the workflow. A failed workflow test may be reported when the environmental and/or automation issues are identified.

FIELD

The present invention generally relates to robotic process automation(RPA), and more specifically, to RPA for workflow in production testing.

BACKGROUND

Digital transformation requires businesses to continuously exploitdigital technologies to create new sources of customer value andincrease operational agility in service of customers. For example,wherever possible, the application of software and automation isimplemented to reduce cost and time to market.

Process automation plays a key role in this transformation as it has thepotential to substantially increase efficiency, and therefore, create acompetitive advantage. For instance, RPA represents a rather new market,being around just for a few years. RPA has profited from a quickadoption by enterprise customers, resulting in the creation of thousandsof bots for automating processes.

However, a lot of those bots may stop working for various reasons. Forexample, the low stability of bots is due to application changes,environment changes and fragile automation itself. Unlike otherautomation areas, such as test automation that has been around for 20plus years, RPA did not have to deal with maintenance, andimplementations often focused on happy paths rather than resilience andexception handling. While this issue has been partially addressed byapplying best practices and tool support for exception handling anddebugging, considering a high-level view on automation quality anddigital transformation, a platform that addresses maintenance in severalareas is needed.

SUMMARY

Certain embodiments of the present invention may provide solutions tothe problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fullyidentified, appreciated, or solved by current RPA technologies. Forexample, some embodiments of the present invention pertain to creatingand executing test cases for existing workflows (or workflows undertest.

In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes creating one ormore test cases for a workflow in production or one or more parts of theworkflow. The method also includes executing the test case for theworkflow, or the one or more parts of the workflow, to identifyenvironmental and/or automation issues for the workflow. The methodfurther includes reporting a failed workflow test when the environmentaland/or automation issues are identified.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes creating atest case and assigning one or more test cases for a corresponding oneof a plurality of workflows in production to the test set. The methodalso includes executing the test set to identify environmental and/orautomation issues for each of the one or more test cases. The methodfurther includes reporting a result of the test set. The result includesone or more failed test cases with a message notifying a user of the oneor more failed test cases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the advantages of certain embodiments of the inventionwill be readily understood, a more particular description of theinvention briefly described above will be rendered by reference tospecific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings.While it should be understood that these drawings depict only typicalembodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered tobe limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explainedwith additional specificity and detail through the use of theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an architectural diagram illustrating an RPA system, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an architectural diagram illustrating a deployed RPA system,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an architectural diagram illustrating the relationship betweena designer, activities, and drivers, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is an architectural diagram illustrating an RPA system, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an architectural diagram illustrating a computing systemconfigured to create and publish one or more test cases, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for creating a testcase, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for publishing a testcase, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for executing a testcase, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for creating adata-driven workflow test case, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 is a graphical user interface (GUI) illustrating a workflowbeing selected in Studio Pro™, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a GUI illustrating a ‘given-when-then’ template, according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a GUI illustrating a ‘when’ module, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13, which is a GUI illustrating preconditions entered in the‘given’ module, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 14 and 15 are GUIs illustrating the mocking of the workflow undertest, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a GUI illustrating a ‘then’ module, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 17 and 18 are GUIs illustrating an executed workflow, according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a GUI illustrating test cases section having a column for‘Linked Process’, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a GUI illustrating test results from executed workflow testcases, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a GUI illustrating the ‘Process’ section of Orchestrator™according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a GUI illustrating a menu option to open the workflow inStudio™, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 us a GUI illustrating affected workflow and a test case inStudio™, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a GUI illustrating a table within Excel®, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a illustrating a workflow that is to be selected, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 is a GUI illustrating a ‘Data-Driven Test Case’ menu allowing auser to select the data source, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 27 is a GUI illustrating a menu option allowing fields to beselected, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a GUI illustrating a menu option for allowing a user toselect one or more available columns within the selected Excel® sheet,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29 is a GUI illustrating a menu option showing an option to select‘Import Data Set’, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30 is a GUI illustrating a first test case created from the dataset, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a GUI illustrating a test case with multiple test datavariations, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 32 is a GUI illustrating a menu option to set the one or more testcases to be publishable, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 33 a GUI illustrating an application for publishing in Studio Pro®,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 34 is a GUI illustrating a deployment process, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 is a GUI illustrating the created test cases in the ‘Test Case’section, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Some embodiments pertain to creating and executing test cases forexisting workflows (or workflows under test). For example, someembodiments provide a solution for common functional applicationtesting, i.e., to test an application directly within development. Thisallows a developer to catch application changes early on, and populaterequired adaptions for RPA. Some additional embodiments may provide asolution for functional workflow testing, i.e., testing automatedworkflows within IT-hosted test environments to catch automation issuesand environmental changes (e.g., operating system updates, updated tothe environment, or Microsoft Windows® updates) before the applicationis in production, and populate required adaptions for RPA.

It should be appreciated that the need for testing automated workflowshas been recognized. There have been several internal and externalinitiatives that tried to provide solutions for testing automatedworkflows, such as RE-framework, which provides an infrastructure forUnit Testing, or the UiPath® functional testing of workflows.

Some embodiments provide a solution to the deficiencies of previouslyinitiatives. For example, some embodiments allow for the creation oftest cases for existing workflows or parts of the existing workflows.These test cases may be frequently executed to catch environmental andautomation issues. When a failing workflow is identified, the RPAdeveloper is notified. In some additional embodiments, data-drivenworkflow test cases are created so a data set can be injected from anexternal source. This data set may include Excel JSON, DB, to name afew. These embodiments may reduce the manual effort to create automatedworkflow test cases.

FIG. 1 is an architectural diagram illustrating an RPA system 100,according to an embodiment of the present invention. RPA system 100includes a designer 110 that allows a developer to design and implementworkflows. Designer 110 may provide a solution for applicationintegration, as well as automating third-party applications,administrative Information Technology (IT) tasks, and business ITprocesses. Designer 110 may facilitate development of an automationproject, which is a graphical representation of a business process.Simply put, designer 110 facilitates the development and deployment ofworkflows and robots.

The automation project enables automation of rule-based processes bygiving the developer control of the execution order and the relationshipbetween a custom set of steps developed in a workflow, defined herein as“activities.” One commercial example of an embodiment of designer 110 isUiPath Studio™. Each activity may include an action, such as clicking abutton, reading a file, writing to a log panel, etc. In someembodiments, workflows may be nested or embedded.

Some types of workflows may include, but are not limited to, sequences,flowcharts, Finite State Machines (FSMs), and/or global exceptionhandlers. Sequences may be particularly suitable for linear processes,enabling flow from one activity to another without cluttering aworkflow. Flowcharts may be particularly suitable to more complexbusiness logic, enabling integration of decisions and connection ofactivities in a more diverse manner through multiple branching logicoperators. FSMs may be particularly suitable for large workflows. FSMsmay use a finite number of states in their execution, which aretriggered by a condition (i.e., transition) or an activity. Globalexception handlers may be particularly suitable for determining workflowbehavior when encountering an execution error and for debuggingprocesses.

Once a workflow is developed in designer 110, execution of businessprocesses is orchestrated by conductor 120, which orchestrates one ormore robots 130 that execute the workflows developed in designer 110.One commercial example of an embodiment of conductor 120 is UiPathOrchestrator™. Conductor 120 facilitates management of the creation,monitoring, and deployment of resources in an environment. Conductor 120may act as an integration point with third-party solutions andapplications.

Conductor 120 may manage a fleet of robots 130, connecting and executingrobots 130 from a centralized point. Types of robots 130 that may bemanaged include, but are not limited to, attended robots 132, unattendedrobots 134, development robots (similar to unattended robots 134, butused for development and testing purposes), and nonproduction robots(similar to attended robots 132, but used for development and testingpurposes). Attended robots 132 are triggered by user events and operatealongside a human on the same computing system. Attended robots 132 maybe used with conductor 120 for a centralized process deployment andlogging medium. Attended robots 132 may help the human user accomplishvarious tasks, and may be triggered by user events. In some embodiments,processes cannot be started from conductor 120 on this type of robotand/or they cannot run under a locked screen. In certain embodiments,attended robots 132 can only be started from a robot tray or from acommand prompt. Attended robots 132 should run under human supervisionin some embodiments.

Unattended robots 134 run unattended in virtual environments and canautomate many processes. Unattended robots 134 may be responsible forremote execution, monitoring, scheduling, and providing support for workqueues. Debugging for all robot types may be run in designer 110 in someembodiments. Both attended and unattended robots may automate varioussystems and applications including, but not limited to, mainframes, webapplications, VMs, enterprise applications (e.g., those produced bySAP®, SalesForce®, Oracle®, etc.), and computing system applications(e.g., desktop and laptop applications, mobile device applications,wearable computer applications, etc.).

Conductor 120 may have various capabilities including, but not limitedto, provisioning, deployment, configuration, queueing, monitoring,logging, and/or providing interconnectivity. Provisioning may includecreating and maintenance of connections between robots 130 and conductor120 (e.g., a web application). Deployment may include assuring thecorrect delivery of package versions to assigned robots 130 forexecution. Configuration may include maintenance and delivery of robotenvironments and process configurations. Queueing may include providingmanagement of queues and queue items. Monitoring may include keepingtrack of robot identification data and maintaining user permissions.Logging may include storing and indexing logs to a database (e.g., anSQL database) and/or another storage mechanism (e.g., ElasticSearch®,which provides the ability to store and quickly query large datasets).Conductor 120 may provide interconnectivity by acting as the centralizedpoint of communication for third-party solutions and/or applications.

Robots 130 are execution agents that run workflows built in designer110. One commercial example of some embodiments of robot(s) 130 isUiPath Robots™. In some embodiments, robots 130 install the MicrosoftWindows® Service Control Manager (SCM)-managed service by default. As aresult, such robots 130 can open interactive Windows® sessions under thelocal system account, and have the rights of a Windows® service.

In some embodiments, robots 130 can be installed in a user mode. Forsuch robots 130, this means they have the same rights as the user underwhich a given robot 130 has been installed. This feature may also beavailable for High Density (HD) robots, which ensure full utilization ofeach machine at its maximum potential. In some embodiments, any type ofrobot 130 may be configured in an HD environment.

Robots 130 in some embodiments are split into several components, eachbeing dedicated to a particular automation task. The robot components insome embodiments include, but are not limited to, SCM-managed robotservices, user mode robot services, executors, agents, and command line.SCM-managed robot services manage and monitor Windows® sessions and actas a proxy between conductor 120 and the execution hosts (i.e., thecomputing systems on which robots 130 are executed). These services aretrusted with and manage the credentials for robots 130. A consoleapplication is launched by the SCM under the local system.

User mode robot services in some embodiments manage and monitor Windows®sessions and act as a proxy between conductor 120 and the executionhosts. User mode robot services may be trusted with and manage thecredentials for robots 130. A Windows® application may automatically belaunched if the SCM-managed robot service is not installed.

Executors may run given jobs under a Windows® session (i.e., they mayexecute workflows. Executors may be aware of per-monitor dots per inch(DPI) settings. Agents may be Windows® Presentation Foundation (WPF)applications that display the available jobs in the system tray window.Agents may be a client of the service. Agents may request to start orstop jobs and change settings. The command line is a client of theservice. The command line is a console application that can request tostart jobs and waits for their output.

Having components of robots 130 split as explained above helpsdevelopers, support users, and computing systems more easily run,identify, and track what each component is executing. Special behaviorsmay be configured per component this way, such as setting up differentfirewall rules for the executor and the service. The executor may alwaysbe aware of DPI settings per monitor in some embodiments. As a result,workflows may be executed at any DPI, regardless of the configuration ofthe computing system on which they were created. Projects from designer110 may also be independent of browser zoom level ins some embodiments.For applications that are DPI-unaware or intentionally marked asunaware, DPI may be disabled in some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is an architectural diagram illustrating a deployed RPA system200, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments, RPA system 200 may be, or may be a part of, RPA system 100of FIG. 1. It should be noted that the client side, the server side, orboth, may include any desired number of computing systems withoutdeviating from the scope of the invention. On the client side, a robotapplication 210 includes executors 212, an agent 214, and a designer216. However, in some embodiments, designer 216 may not be running oncomputing system 210. Executors 212 are running processes. Severalbusiness projects may run simultaneously, as shown in FIG. 2. Agent 214(e.g., a Windows® service) is the single point of contact for allexecutors 212 in this embodiment. All messages in this embodiment arelogged into conductor 230, which processes them further via databaseserver 240, indexer server 250, or both. As discussed above with respectto FIG. 1, executors 212 may be robot components.

In some embodiments, a robot represents an association between a machinename and a username. The robot may manage multiple executors at the sametime. On computing systems that support multiple interactive sessionsrunning simultaneously (e.g., Windows® Server 2012), multiple robots maybe running at the same time, each in a separate Windows® session using aunique username. This is referred to as HD robots above.

Agent 214 is also responsible for sending the status of the robot (e.g.,periodically sending a “heartbeat” message indicating that the robot isstill functioning) and downloading the required version of the packageto be executed. The communication between agent 214 and conductor 230 isalways initiated by agent 214 in some embodiments. In the notificationscenario, agent 214 may open a WebSocket channel that is later used byconductor 230 to send commands to the robot (e.g., start, stop, etc.).

On the server side, a presentation layer (web application 232, Open DataProtocol (OData) Representative State Transfer (REST) ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) endpoints 234, and notification andmonitoring 236), a service layer (API implementation/business logic238), and a persistence layer (database server 240 and indexer server250) are included. Conductor 230 includes web application 232, ODataREST API endpoints 234, notification and monitoring 236, and APIimplementation/business logic 238. In some embodiments, most actionsthat a user performs in the interface of conductor 220 (e.g., viabrowser 220) are performed by calling various APIs. Such actions mayinclude, but are not limited to, starting jobs on robots,adding/removing data in queues, scheduling jobs to run unattended, etc.without deviating from the scope of the invention. Web application 232is the visual layer of the server platform. In this embodiment, webapplication 232 uses Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript(JS). However, any desired markup languages, script languages, or anyother formats may be used without deviating from the scope of theinvention. The user interacts with web pages from web application 232via browser 220 in this embodiment in order to perform various actionsto control conductor 230. For instance, the user may create robotgroups, assign packages to the robots, analyze logs per robot and/or perprocess, start and stop robots, etc.

In addition to web application 232, conductor 230 also includes servicelayer that exposes OData REST API endpoints 234. However, otherendpoints may be included without deviating from the scope of theinvention. The REST API is consumed by both web application 232 andagent 214. Agent 214 is the supervisor of one or more robots on theclient computer in this embodiment.

The REST API in this embodiment covers configuration, logging,monitoring, and queueing functionality. The configuration endpoints maybe used to define and configure application users, permissions, robots,assets, releases, and environments in some embodiments. Logging RESTendpoints may be used to log different information, such as errors,explicit messages sent by the robots, and other environment-specificinformation, for instance. Deployment REST endpoints may be used by therobots to query the package version that should be executed if the startjob command is used in conductor 230. Queueing REST endpoints may beresponsible for queues and queue item management, such as adding data toa queue, obtaining a transaction from the queue, setting the status of atransaction, etc.

Monitoring REST endpoints may monitor web application 232 and agent 214.Notification and monitoring API 236 may be REST endpoints that are usedfor registering agent 214, delivering configuration settings to agent214, and for sending/receiving notifications from the server and agent214. Notification and monitoring API 236 may also use Web Socketcommunication in some embodiments.

The persistence layer includes a pair of servers in thisembodiment—database server 240 (e.g., a SQL server) and indexer server250. Database server 240 in this embodiment stores the configurations ofthe robots, robot groups, associated processes, users, roles, schedules,etc. This information is managed through web application 232 in someembodiments. Database server 240 may manages queues and queue items. Insome embodiments, database server 240 may store messages logged by therobots (in addition to or in lieu of indexer server 250).

Indexer server 250, which is optional in some embodiments, stores andindexes the information logged by the robots. In certain embodiments,indexer server 250 may be disabled through configuration settings. Insome embodiments, indexer server 250 uses ElasticSearch®, which is anopen source project full-text search engine. Messages logged by robots(e.g., using activities like log message or write line) may be sentthrough the logging REST endpoint(s) to indexer server 250, where theyare indexed for future utilization.

FIG. 3 is an architectural diagram illustrating the relationship 300between a designer 310, activities 320, 330, and drivers 340, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. Per the above, a developeruses designer 310 to develop workflows that are executed by robots.Workflows may include user-defined activities 320 and UI automationactivities 330. Some embodiments are able to identify non-textual visualcomponents in an image, which is called computer vision (CV) herein.Some CV activities pertaining to such components may include, but arenot limited to, click, type, get text, hover, element exists, refreshscope, highlight, etc. Click in some embodiments identifies an elementusing CV, optical character recognition (OCR), fuzzy text matching, andmulti-anchor, for example, and clicks it. Type may identify an elementusing the above and types in the element. Get text may identify thelocation of specific text and scan it using OCR. Hover may identify anelement and hover over it. Element exists may check whether an elementexists on the screen using the techniques described above. In someembodiments, there may be hundreds or even thousands of activities thatcan be implemented in designer 310. However, any number and/or type ofactivities may be available without deviating from the scope of theinvention.

UI automation activities 330 are a subset of special, lower levelactivities that are written in lower level code (e.g., CV activities)and facilitate interactions with the screen. UI automation activities330 facilitate these interactions via drivers 340 that allow the robotto interact with the desired software. For instance, drivers 340 mayinclude OS drivers 342, browser drivers 344, VM drivers 346, enterpriseapplication drivers 348, etc.

Drivers 340 may interact with the OS at a low level looking for hooks,monitoring for keys, etc. They may facilitate integration with Chrome®,IE®, Citrix®, SAP®, etc. For instance, the “click” activity performs thesame role in these different applications via drivers 340.

FIG. 4 is an architectural diagram illustrating an RPA system 400,according to an embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments, RPA system 400 may be or include RPA systems 100 and/or 200of FIGS. 1 and/or 2. RPA system 400 includes multiple client computingsystems 410 running robots. Computing systems 410 are able tocommunicate with a conductor computing system 420 via a web applicationrunning thereon. Conductor computing system 420, in turn, is able tocommunicate with a database server 430 and an optional indexer server440.

With respect to FIGS. 1 and 3, it should be noted that while a webapplication is used in these embodiments, any suitable client/serversoftware may be used without deviating from the scope of the invention.For instance, the conductor may run a server-side application thatcommunicates with non-web-based client software applications on theclient computing systems.

FIG. 5 is an architectural diagram illustrating a computing system 500configured to create and publish one or more test cases, according to anembodiment of the present invention. In some embodiments, computingsystem 500 may be one or more of the computing systems depicted and/ordescribed herein. Computing system 500 includes a bus 505 or othercommunication mechanism for communicating information, and processor(s)510 coupled to bus 505 for processing information. Processor(s) 510 maybe any type of general or specific purpose processor, including aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a GraphicsProcessing Unit (GPU), multiple instances thereof, and/or anycombination thereof. Processor(s) 510 may also have multiple processingcores, and at least some of the cores may be configured to performspecific functions. Multi-parallel processing may be used in someembodiments. In certain embodiments, at least one of processor(s) 510may be a neuromorphic circuit that includes processing elements thatmimic biological neurons. In some embodiments, neuromorphic circuits maynot require the typical components of a Von Neumann computingarchitecture.

Computing system 500 further includes a memory 515 for storinginformation and instructions to be executed by processor(s) 510. Memory515 can be comprised of any combination of Random Access Memory (RAM),Read Only Memory (ROM), flash memory, cache, static storage such as amagnetic or optical disk, or any other types of non-transitorycomputer-readable media or combinations thereof. Non-transitorycomputer-readable media may be any available media that can be accessedby processor(s) 510 and may include volatile media, non-volatile media,or both. The media may also be removable, non-removable, or both.

Additionally, computing system 500 includes a communication device 520,such as a transceiver, to provide access to a communications network viaa wireless and/or wired connection. In some embodiments, communicationdevice 520 may be configured to use Frequency Division Multiple Access(FDMA), Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiplexing (OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division MultipleAccess (OFDMA), Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications, GeneralPacket Radio Service (GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), cdma2000, Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), High-Speed Downlink PacketAccess (HSDPA), High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High-SpeedPacket Access (HSPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A),802.11x, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), 802.16x, 802.15, HomeNode-B (HnB), Bluetooth, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), InfraredData Association (IrDA), Near-Field Communications (NFC), fifthgeneration (5G), New Radio (NR), any combination thereof, and/or anyother currently existing or future-implemented communications standardand/or protocol without deviating from the scope of the invention. Insome embodiments, communication device 520 may include one or moreantennas that are singular, arrayed, phased, switched, beamforming,beamsteering, a combination thereof, and or any other antennaconfiguration without deviating from the scope of the invention.

Processor(s) 510 are further coupled via bus 505 to a display 525, suchas a plasma display, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light EmittingDiode (LED) display, a Field Emission Display (FED), an Organic LightEmitting Diode (OLED) display, a flexible OLED display, a flexiblesubstrate display, a projection display, a 4K display, a high definitiondisplay, a Retina® display, an In-Plane Switching (IPS) display, or anyother suitable display for displaying information to a user. Display 525may be configured as a touch (haptic) display, a three dimensional (3D)touch display, a multi-input touch display, a multi-touch display, etc.using resistive, capacitive, surface-acoustic wave (SAW) capacitive,infrared, optical imaging, dispersive signal technology, acoustic pulserecognition, frustrated total internal reflection, etc. Any suitabledisplay device and haptic I/O may be used without deviating from thescope of the invention.

A keyboard 530 and a cursor control device 535, such as a computermouse, a touchpad, etc., are further coupled to bus 505 to enable a userto interface with computing system 500. However, in certain embodiments,a physical keyboard and mouse may not be present, and the user mayinteract with the device solely through display 525 and/or a touchpad(not shown). Any type and combination of input devices may be used as amatter of design choice. In certain embodiments, no physical inputdevice and/or display is present. For instance, the user may interactwith computing system 500 remotely via another computing system incommunication therewith, or computing system 500 may operateautonomously.

Memory 515 stores software modules that provide functionality whenexecuted by processor(s) 510. The modules include an operating system540 for computing system 500. The modules further include a test casemodule 545 that is configured to perform all, or part of the processesdescribed herein or derivatives thereof. Computing system 500 mayinclude one or more additional functional modules 550 that includeadditional functionality.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that a “system” could be embodiedas a server, an embedded computing system, a personal computer, aconsole, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cell phone, a tabletcomputing device, a quantum computing system, or any other suitablecomputing device, or combination of devices without deviating from thescope of the invention. Presenting the above-described functions asbeing performed by a “system” is not intended to limit the scope of thepresent invention in any way, but is intended to provide one example ofthe many embodiments of the present invention. Indeed, methods, systems,and apparatuses disclosed herein may be implemented in localized anddistributed forms consistent with computing technology, including cloudcomputing systems.

It should be noted that some of the system features described in thisspecification have been presented as modules, in order to moreparticularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, amodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom verylarge scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelfsemiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discretecomponents. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardwaredevices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable arraylogic, programmable logic devices, graphics processing units, or thelike.

A module may also be at least partially implemented in software forexecution by various types of processors. An identified unit ofexecutable code may, for instance, include one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions that may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified module need not be physically locatedtogether, but may include disparate instructions stored in differentlocations that, when joined logically together, comprise the module andachieve the stated purpose for the module. Further, modules may bestored on a computer-readable medium, which may be, for instance, a harddisk drive, flash device, RAM, tape, and/or any other suchnon-transitory computer-readable medium used to store data withoutdeviating from the scope of the invention.

Indeed, a module of executable code could be a single instruction, ormany instructions, and may even be distributed over several differentcode segments, among different programs, and across several memorydevices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustratedherein within modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork.

Test Case Creation

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 600 for creating a testcase, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments, process 600 begins at 602 with opening an existing workflowwith Studio Pro™. As noted above, the existing workflow may be aworkflow in production or under development. At 604, the existingworkflow is selected to determine the scope of the workflow test case.Depending on the embodiment, either the entire workflow or one or moreportions of the workflow are selected. See FIG. 10, which is an GUI 1000illustrating a workflow being selected in Studio Pro™, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

At 606, the selected test case is created. For example, the selectedtest case is created when the user of the computing device selects the‘Create Test Case’ button from the context menu of a workflow. Thecreated test case may be stored under the ‘Test Cases’ folder of theproject.

In some embodiment, the test case uses a ‘given-when-then’ template ormodule. See FIG. 11, which is an GUI 1100 illustrating a‘given-when-then’ template, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. Under the ‘when’ module, the workflow under test is invoked,and therefore, placed as a reference. The idea is, that the test casedoes not hold a copy of the workflow under test, but rather directlyreferences it. This is important, because the workflow under test maychange over time. The ‘when’ module is primarily responsible forexecuting or invoking the workflow that is under test. See, for example,FIG. 12, which is a GUI 1200 illustrating a ‘when’ module, according toan embodiment of the present invention.

Under the ‘given’ module, the user of the computing device adds allrequired preconditions for the ‘when’ module to successfully execute.See FIG. 13, which is a GUI 1300 illustrating preconditions entered inthe ‘given’ module, according to an embodiment of the present invention.For example, the required preconditions may include input parameters,applications, etc. The ‘given’ module may provide an executionenvironment, which ensures that the workflow runs successfully. Thismight include, for example, providing temporary files for the workflowto process (e.g., instead of real invoices), starting a certainapplication that is required for the workflow to run, or parameters andvariables that are used within the workflow and that are expected asinput for the workflow (e.g., an id or credentials). In some furtherembodiments, the ‘given’ module is configured to provide a possibilityto mock steps of a workflow under test, ensuring that the workflow undertest is executed without errors. The mocking includes simulating aseries of steps within the workflow under test. See, for example, FIGS.14 and 15, which are GUIs 1400, 1500 illustrating the mocking of theworkflow under test, according to an embodiment. In some embodiments,the workflow under test is a test object for which you create test casesfor, and is invoked by the ‘when’ module.

Further, under the ‘given’ module, the variables and/or parametersrequired for the workflow are automatically identified. In certainembodiments, the user may place any activities and/or actions in the‘given’ module. Additionally, arguments/parameters can directly beprovided in the ‘when’ module on the ‘Invoke Workflow’ activity, whichreferences the workflow under test.

In one example, the workflow under test uses a variable ‘Insurant.Name’,which is part of a Data Driven Test Case (DDT). In some embodiments,DDTs are represented by a single test case definition, which is filledup with different data variations. Those variations may come from, forexample, an Excel® file, and if such a data file is linked, argumentsare created for each table column of the data source. When the test caseis created, a variable with the same name is automatically created inthe ‘given’ module. In another example, a default value of the original‘Insurant.Name’ variable is given when available. Otherwise, thevariable is left for the user of the computing device to complete thevalue.

Under the ‘then’ module, this module may hold any types of assertions,which represent an essential part of the test case. For purposes ofexplanation, essential part of the test case is the assertion orverification, it defines the test purpose (e.g., assert that the loanvalue is 500,000). This is how a test case proves that a certainrequirement of the application under test is fulfilled. With the ‘then’module, existing verification activities may be dragged into the ‘then’section of the module by the user of the computing device. In oneexample, within the ‘when’ module, the user of the computing device mayinvoke a workflow that fills out an insurance application. See FIG. 16,which is a GUI 1600 illustrating a ‘then’ module, according to anembodiment of the present invention. Within the ‘then’ module, the userof the computing device may drag a ‘Verify UiElement’ activity to assertthe created insurance number. See FIGS. 17 and 18, which are GUIs 1700and 1800 illustrating an executed workflow, according to an embodimentof the present invention.

Test Case Publication

A Studio Pro™ project may hold 1-n workflows, 1-n workflow test cases,and 1-n application test cases. When publishing, ‘Test Cases’ section ofOrchestrator™ may contain a project, application test cases, and/orworkflow test cases. Workflow test cases may additionally contain areference to the original workflow that it was created for. See, forexample, FIG. 19, which is a GUI 1900 illustrating test cases sectionhaving a column for ‘Linked Process’, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 700 for publishing atest case, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments, with Studio Pro®, users can publish either their workflows,or their test cases. Once published, users can take the one or more testcases and group them together to test sets for execution. Process 700may begin at 702 with creating one or more test cases in Studio Pro®,and at 704, the one or more test cases are set to be publishable. See,for example, FIG. 32, which is a GUI 3200 illustrating a menu option toset the one or more test cases to be publishable, according to anembodiment of the present invention. At 706, the one or more test casesare triggered for publishing. See, for example, FIG. 33, which is a GUI3300 illustrating an application for publishing in Studio Pro®,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

At 708, a process is created for the test case package using a certainenvironment. See, for example, FIG. 34, which is a GUI 3400 illustratinga deployment process, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. At 710, the one or more test cases appear in the ‘Test Cases’section of Studio Pro®. See, for example, FIG. 35, which is a GUI 3500illustrating the created test cases in the ‘Test Case’ section,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Workflow Test Case Execution

Executing workflow test cases is not be different from executingapplication test cases. For example, FIG. 8 is a flow diagramillustrating a process 800 for executing a test case, according to anembodiment of the present invention. In some embodiments, process 800may begin at 802 with creating a test set, and at 804, assigning one ormore test cases for one or more workflows, or one or more parts of theworkflow, to the test set. At 806, the test set is executed.

It should be appreciated that the execution result of workflow testcases may have a similar structure as common application test results,but additionally may have a reference to the process under test. FIG. 20is a GUI 2000 illustrating test results from executed workflow testcases, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In case of a failed workflow test case, the corresponding processeswithin the ‘Process’ section of Orchestrator™ receives a warningtriangle and tooltip. FIG. 21 is a GUI 2100 illustrating the ‘Process’section of Orchestrator™, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. In an embodiment, warning triangle and tooltip 2102 providesan indication that a particular process is affected by the failedworkflow test case and may require adaptions to run successfully duringproduction.

When considering that one or more users may continuously run one or moreworkflow test cases for the latest version of a workflow within adedicated test environment, the actual process in production uses theprevious version and a different environment. For example, duringdevelopment of a RPA, there is a first version and then a secondversion. For this second version, test cases are executed when there isa change in the workflow. In another example, when the second version isunder production, a set of workflow test cases are also executed duringproduction. For instance, the test cases are executed once per day priorto running the workflow in production. With this, workflows under testcan be broken and fixed prior to the workflow entering the productionstage. For purposes of explanation, the term ‘environment’ refers to thesystem, i.e., the programming, the databases, etc. In other words, thereare many environments, starting with development environment, andpre-production environment, production environment, to name a few.

For this reason, it may be beneficial to warn or notify users aboutpotential issues within this process. Therefore, tooltip or notificationmessage 2102 may provide the necessary context. For example, tooltip ornotification message 2102 may include the following message: “SeveralTest Cases assigned to this process failed for version XXX onenvironment Y” A context menu in some embodiments allows marking thewarning as ‘received’ which basically removes the warning.

In certain embodiments, a failed workflow test case causes the developerto analyze the workflow and/or test case and debug the workflow and/ortestcase in Studio Pro™. Therefore, an additional context menu entry,such as that shown in FIG. 22, allows for directly opening up of thecorresponding Studio Pro™ project. FIG. 22 is a GUI 2200 illustrating anadditional context menu entry 2202 to open the failed workflow test casein Studio™, according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 23is a GUI 2300 illustrating affected workflow 2302 and a test case inStudio Pro™, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Create Data-Driven Workflow Test Cases

In some embodiments, testing different combinations of input datarequires a possibility to connect an external data source with a testcase. In one example, let's assume the data source is a table within anExcel® sheet. See, for example, FIG. 24, which is a GUI 2400illustrating a table within Excel®, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 900 for creating adata-driven workflow test case, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. In some embodiments, process 900 may begin at 902with selecting the workflow, or one or more parts of the workflow, inStudio Pro™. This way, the data in the data source, in this examplebeing in the form of an Excel® sheet is leveraged. FIG. 25 is a GUI 2500illustrating a workflow 2502 that is to be selected, according to anembodiment of the present invention. At 904, from the ‘Workflow Testing’section, the ‘Create Data-Driven Test Case’ is selected and the datasource is selected. FIG. 26 is a GUI 2600 illustrating a ‘Data-DrivenTest Case’ menu 2602 allowing a user to select the data source,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

At 906, under a ‘Select Table’ menu, one or more tables are selected.Once the table(s) are selected, the fields are selected at 908. FIG. 27is a GUI 2700 illustrating a menu option 2702 allowing fields to beselected, according to an embodiment of the present invention.Specifically, GUI 2700 shows a menu option 2702 that allows a user toselect one or more fields from the data source in the Excel® sheet. Itis from these fields the data is extracted. At 910, since the datasource is an Excel® sheet, Studio Pro™ automatically matches the columnswith the variable names used.

At 912, for those variables that cannot be matched with a certaincolumn, the user manually selects from available columns within theselected sheet. FIG. 28 is a GUI 2800 illustrating a menu option 2802for allowing a user to select one or more available columns within theselected Excel® sheet, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

At 914, the data source is imported by selected on the ‘Import Data Set’checkbox in Studio Pro™. It should be noted that depending on theembodiment, the data source is either referenced (by path) or importedas part of the project (e.g., by clicking on the ‘Import Data Set’checkbox in the menu option). FIG. 29 is a GUI 2900 illustrating a menuoption 2902 showing an option to select ‘Import Data Set’, according toan embodiment of the present invention. In some embodiments, the dataset is part of the project itself and the initial source (file) does nothave to be available during test execution.

At 916, after variable matching is complete, the first test case iscreated and the variables within the ‘Arguments’ section are set withreferences to the data source (external or internal). FIG. 30 is a GUI3000 illustrating a first test case 3002 created from the data set,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a GUI 3100 illustrating a test case with multiple test datavariations, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments, a new tab called ‘Data Sets’ may be created showing a tablewith the imported test data. This table has mainly two purposes. First,the table indicates the single test case is connected to multiple testdata variations. Second, the table executes one or more of thevariations (e.g., by selecting one or more variations and clicking‘Run’) for debugging purposes locally. For example, when publishing toOrchestrator™, the entire data set is published and is executed.

The process steps performed in FIGS. 6-9 may be performed by a computerprogram, encoding instructions for the processor(s) to perform at leastpart of the process(es) described in FIGS. 6-9, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. The computer program may beembodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Thecomputer-readable medium may be, but is not limited to, a hard diskdrive, a flash device, RAM, a tape, and/or any other such medium orcombination of media used to store data. The computer program mayinclude encoded instructions for controlling processor(s) of a computingsystem (e.g., processor(s) 510 of computing system 500 of FIG. 5) toimplement all or part of the process steps described in FIGS. 6-9, whichmay also be stored on the computer-readable medium.

The computer program can be implemented in hardware, software, or ahybrid implementation. The computer program can be composed of modulesthat are in operative communication with one another, and which aredesigned to pass information or instructions to display. The computerprogram can be configured to operate on a general purpose computer, anASIC, or any other suitable device.

It will be readily understood that the components of various embodimentsof the present invention, as generally described and illustrated in thefigures herein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety ofdifferent configurations. Thus, the detailed description of theembodiments of the present invention, as represented in the attachedfigures, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention as claimed,but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the invention.

The features, structures, or characteristics of the invention describedthroughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. For example, reference throughout thisspecification to “certain embodiments,” “some embodiments,” or similarlanguage means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in certain embodiments,” “in some embodiment,” “in other embodiments,”or similar language throughout this specification do not necessarily allrefer to the same group of embodiments and the described features,structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments.

It should be noted that reference throughout this specification tofeatures, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of thefeatures and advantages that may be realized with the present inventionshould be or are in any single embodiment of the invention. Rather,language referring to the features and advantages is understood to meanthat a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described inconnection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment ofthe present invention. Thus, discussion of the features and advantages,and similar language, throughout this specification may, but do notnecessarily, refer to the same embodiment.

Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics ofthe invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that theinvention can be practiced without one or more of the specific featuresor advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additionalfeatures and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments thatmay not be present in all embodiments of the invention.

One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that theinvention as discussed above may be practiced with steps in a differentorder, and/or with hardware elements in configurations which aredifferent than those which are disclosed. Therefore, although theinvention has been described based upon these preferred embodiments, itwould be apparent to those of skill in the art that certainmodifications, variations, and alternative constructions would beapparent, while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention.In order to determine the metes and bounds of the invention, therefore,reference should be made to the appended claims.

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: creating a test case for aworkflow under test or one or more parts of the workflow under test,wherein the workflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflowunder test is a workflow in production or a workflow under development;executing, using robotic process automation (RPA), the test case for theworkflow under test, or the one or more parts of the workflow undertest, to identify environmental and/or automation issues for theworkflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflow under test;and reporting a failed workflow test when the environmental and/orautomation issues are identified.
 2. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising: opening the workflow under test within anapplication; and selecting the workflow under test or the one or moreparts of the workflow under test to determine a scope of the workflowtest case.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thecreating of the test case is based on a ‘given-when-then’ template, the‘given-when-then’ template being configured to invoke the workflow undertest or the one or more parts of the workflow under test, execute anapplication with one or more required pre-conditions, and hold one ormore types of assertions, and the ‘given-when-then’ template comprises a‘when’ module, a ‘given’ module, and a ‘then’ module.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the ‘when’ module isconfigured to invoke the workflow under test or the one or more parts ofthe workflow under test and places the workflow under test or the one ormore parts of the workflow under test as a reference, allowing for thetest case to reference the workflow under test or the one or more partsof the workflow under test.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim3, wherein the ‘given’ module is configured to add one or more requiredpreconditions for the ‘when’ module to successfully execute the workflowunder test or the one or more parts of the workflow under test, the oneor more preconditions comprise one or more input parameters and one ormore applications used by the workflow under test or by the one or moreparts of the workflow under test.
 6. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 5, wherein the ‘given’ module is configured to provide apossibility to mock steps of the workflow under test, ensuring that theworkflow under test is executed without errors, the mocking of the stepsincludes simulating a series of steps within the workflow under test,the workflow under test is a test object for which test cases arecreated for and fare invoked by the ‘when’ module.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the ‘given’ module isconfigured to automatically identify one or more variables and/or one ormore parameters required for the workflow under test or the one or moreparts of the workflow under test to be executed.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the ‘given’ module isconfigured to automatically create a variable with same name as theworkflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflow under testwhen the test case is created for the workflow under test or the one ormore parts of the workflow under test.
 9. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 3, wherein the ‘then’ module is configured to verify theworkflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflow under testand implement one or more existing verification activities from a user.10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:publishing the test case referencing the workflow under test or the oneor more parts of the workflow under test for which the test case wascreated for; and grouping the test case with one or more other testcases to create a test set for execution.
 11. A system, comprising:memory storing computer program instructions; and at least one processorconfigured to execute the computer program instructions, the computerprogram instructions are configured to execute: creating a test case fora workflow under test or one or more parts of the workflow under test,wherein the workflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflowunder test is a workflow in production or a workflow under development;executing, using robotic process automation (RPA), the test case for theworkflow under test, or the one or more parts of the workflow undertest, to identify environmental and/or automation issues for theworkflow under test; and reporting a failed workflow test when theenvironmental and/or automation issues are identified.
 12. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the computer program instructions are furtherconfigured to execute: opening the workflow under test within anapplication; and selecting the workflow under test or the one or moreparts of the workflow under test to determine a scope of the workflowtest case.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the creating of the testcase is based on a ‘given’-when-then’ template, the ‘given-when-then’template being configured to invoke the workflow under test or the oneor more parts of the workflow under test, execute an application withone or more required pre-conditions, and hold one or more types ofassertions, and the ‘given-when-then’ template comprises a ‘when’module, a ‘given’ module, and a ‘then’ module.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein the ‘when’ module is configured to invoke the workflow undertest or the one or more parts of the workflow under test and places theworkflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflow under testas a reference, allowing for the test case to reference the workflowunder test or the one or more parts of the workflow under test.
 15. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the ‘given’ module is configured to add oneor more required preconditions for the ‘when’ module to successfullyexecute the workflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflowunder test, the one or more preconditions comprise one or more inputparameters and one or more applications used by the workflow or by theone or more parts of the workflow.
 16. The system of claim 15, whereinthe ‘given’ module is configured to provide a possibility to mock stepsof the workflow under test, ensuring that the workflow under test isexecuted without errors, the mocking of the steps includes simulating aseries of steps within the workflow under test, the workflow under testis a test object for which test cases are created for and fare invokedby the ‘when’ module.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the ‘given’module is configured to automatically identify one or more variablesand/or one or more parameters required for the workflow or the one ormore parts of the workflow to be executed.
 18. The system of claim 15,wherein the ‘given’ module is configured to automatically create avariable with same name as the workflow under test or the one or moreparts of the workflow under test when the test case is created for theworkflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflow under test.19. The system of claim 13, wherein the ‘then’ module is configured toverify the workflow under test or the one or more parts of the workflowunder test and implement one or more existing verification activitiesfrom a user.
 20. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer programinstructions are further configured to execute: publishing the test casereferencing the workflow under test or the one or more parts of theworkflow under test for which the test case was created; and groupingthe test case with one or more other test cases to create a test set forexecution.